Common Challenges and Pitfalls

caution

A common planning oversight is not factoring the CM activities into the task assignments or not allocating specific CM roles. As a result, the individuals assigned to CM activities are often over-allocated. Thus, when time is tight, the CM activities are the first to go.

We've addressed the challenges you will have on your project if you do not have a CM Plan, but even with a CM Plan, there are still some remaining pitfalls that you need to be on the lookout for:

The Absolute Minimum

At this point, you should have a solid understanding of the following:

  • The benefits of properly managing project work products include increased productivity (by avoiding lost work), enhanced professional credibility, audit-proofing your project, and increased customer satisfaction.
  • The principles of managing project work products are identification, protection, and tracking… and, of course, CYA.
  • The configuration management plan documents the processes and procedures that will be utilized to ensure project work products are protected and that changes are controlled.
  • Like other elements of the project, make sure stakeholders understand the value of the CM plan and are properly trained on how to use the process.
  • Make sure your back-up recovery procedures work correctly before you actually need them.
  • Consider web-enabled configuration management tools for virtual project team environments.
  • For other helpful information on configuration management, check out CM Crossroads at http://www.cmcrossroads.com.

The map in Figure 12.3 summarizes the main points we reviewed in this chapter.

Figure 12.3. Overview of managing project deliverables.

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